Thesickkid

Ok so to start off and give a little background on my build i had a 91 hatch bone stock 5 speed base model that had some terrible frame rot so i got a new shell switched over what was worth keeping (practically nothing). the new shell is a 93 and COMPLETELY BARE. it did have the chassis harness in it but it was cut and mangled in some spots so i replaced the ENTIRE harness with the chassis harness from my 91. Last time i had touched anything in the car it had all worked properly so i knew this would be a better choice than trying to figure out how to fix the current harness. then i bought a redtop swap and have since installed it as well as a wiring specialties trans and engine harness. i got things buttoned up as well as i could and have all grounds correct as far as i know. I hooked up a brand new battery to see what i could get working so far. all lights and blinkers and dash lights were working. the dash lights would not go off after switching the key back to the off position for some reason. i went through and found some grounds that werent secured and tried again. upon trying to start the car the dash lights shut off but headlights and everything stayed (as i assumed they would) but i noticed my grounds were still not correct so it had worried me that i may have fried my ecu or ignitor chip in the process. So today i spent time grounding everything correctly starting from the brake level sensor, the drivers side headlight area, passenger headlight area, ignitor chip, valve cover strap, and last the chassis ground from the wiring specialties trans harness. i checked fuses and found my number 2 ten amp fuse was blown ( the cover for fuse box is missing so i dont know what it is for.. it just says "meter" in the pictures ive found online. so after replacing the ten amp fuse and going through grounds here are my results

: lights and blinkers all work correctly, dash lights come on.
: fuel pump will prime at initial "key on"
: starter will NOT engage from key. worked when jumping power to it though
: when turning key to off position dash lights remain on until disconnecting battery.

I couldn't be anymore lost at this point because i can not visualize any of the electrical circuits basically im completely blind to what im looking at. i could solve this issue by finding any type of wiring diagrams but after endless searching ive still yet to come up with ANYTHING USEFUL at this point. In conclusion what i'm asking is if anyone can explain why the dash lights are still remaining on when the key is off, and where to start checking for available voltage. also where to find some literature that will HELP me identify what i am looking at (black and white pictures with no zoom capabilities have done absolutely nothing for me..)

all i can assume is theres something still unplugged or not grounded ( but what could it be and where)

or my ecu and ignitor chip got fried when trying to crank it over with improper grounds ?

let me know what can be done from here on and it would be greatly appreciated. I would say hold the rude comments as this is the first project ive ever started, but nothing could burn as bad as the 8,000 dollars i've spent on this car that does... not..... start.